Press Release: OCTOBER 2004 PUBLIC PROGRAMS LISTINGS

The City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center announces the following public events to be held during the month of October. Programs will be held at The Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street. For further general public information, call the Office of Continuing Education and Public Programs at (212) 817-8215, or visit its website at http://web.gc.cuny.edu/cepp. For press queries please see above contact information.

Through November 13

"Lasting Impressions" at the Art Gallery of the Graduate Center Nineteenth-Century French Prints from the Arthur Ross Foundation (art exhibition)

The Art Gallery of the Graduate Center will present a lesser known side of the masters of nineteenth-century French painting by showcasing their print works. The exhibition will feature 50 etchings, lithographs and wood cuts by Eugène Delacroix, Honoré Daumier, Camille Corot, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, and Paul Gauguin. Executed over a seventy-five year period, the prints ireveal a multiplicity of thematic and stylistic concerns associated with Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Symbolism The Gallery will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 12 to 6 pm. Free

The second annual Prelude to Off-Broadway weekend will once again enable audiences to preview the city's vibrant Off-Broadway scene in just three days at one place. From October lst to 3rd, the CUNY Graduate Center's Martin E. Segal Theatre Center will team up with the Alliance of Resident Theatres (A.R.T)/New York to host twenty-seven exciting and diverse companies presenting free samples of their work. In addition, the weekend will offer three panel discussions, beginning with one on September 30, plus a series of breakout sessions. A complete schedule and updated details can be found at http://web.gc.cuny.edu/MESTC or http://www.theatermania.com.

Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis, although a guaranteed ticket for each program may be reserved for a $5 donation per event through the Graduate Center's Office of Continuing Education and Public Programs at 1-212-817-8215, or continuinged@gc.cuny.edu.

Monday, October 4

Election Fever:

A Discussion on the 2004 Election with Frances Fox Piven, Sherrod Brown, John Nichols, and Lewis Lapham (discussion)---7:00 p.m.

The New Press presents a distinguished panel of authors for a lively discussion on the Bush administration and the upcoming election. Join Graduate Center Distinguished Professor Frances Fox Piven (The War at Home: The Domestic Costs of Bush's Militarism) along with Ohio Congressman Sherrod Brown (Myths of Free Trade), The Nation's Washington correspondent John Nichols (Dick: The Man Who is President), journalist Esther Kaplan (With God on Their Side). Moderated by Lewis Lapham, editor of Harper's Magazine. Cosponsored by The New Press: $10; Free to CUNY

Wednesday, October 6

An Evening with Vijay Tendulkar (reading, film screening, award ceremony)---6:30 p.m. An evening celebrating Vijay Tendulkar, leading contemporary Indian playwright, screen and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator. The evening will include a reading of excerpts from the upcoming NYC production of Sakharam Binder by The Play Company; short excerpts of Mr. Tendulkar's major films; a moderated interview with the playwright; and the presentation of a Lifetime Award by The Indo-American Arts Council. Free; $10 suggested donation guarantees a seat.

A Black Woman Artist: With Robert Farris Thompson (lecture)---7:30 p.m. One of the world's foremost authorities on African and Afro-Atlantic cultures, Professor Robert Farris Thompson will talk about his godmother-a woman in Africa who was the high priestess of the god of the river, Eyinle, and who was a major sacred artist in her branch of the Yoruba classical religion. Professor Thompson will describe the power and relevance of her work on sacred altars, her aquatic bas-reliefs of watery denizens, and her extraordinary use of deep indigo and river stones to convey complex spiritual ideas. He will also use her work as a lens through which to view African ritual art elements' journey to the "new world"-and their profound resonance today. $18; $15 students

Identity Politics: A Defense, with Linda Alcoff

The Eighth Annual Marx W. Wartofsky Lecture (lecture)--- 4:15pm Professor Alcoff will present her paper, "Identity Politics: A Defense," which offers a philosophical justification for political strategies based on ethnic, racial, gender, and sexual identities. Linda Martín Alcoff is Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies and Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence at Syracuse University and author of several books including the forthcoming Visible Identities: Race, Gender and the Self. Free

Conversations in the Humanities Series:

Morris Dickstein & Ilan Stavans (discussion)---1:00 p.m. A series of conversations between CUNY professors in the Humanities and New York's finest working writers and artists.Ilan Stavans is the Lewis-Sibring Professor of Latin American and Latino Cultures at Amherst College and editor of the Library of America's Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories; a National Book Critics Circle Award nominee.

Morris Dickstein is Distinguished Professor of English and Theatre at The Graduate Center and author of, Leopards in the Temple: The Transformation of American Fiction, 1945-1970. $5; Free to CUNY

Thursday, October 7

The American Theatre Wing's Working in the Theatre Seminar (discussion)---12:00 p.m.

For 30 years, the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards, has gathered the top professionals in the New York theatre scene-actors, directors, producers, authors, choreographers, and designers-to participate in its ongoing series of lively panel discussions on the art and business of theatre, an expansive and entertaining look into the creative process of theatre. Check website for updated information (http://web.gc.cuny.edu/cepp), and join us for the series or for one session. Seminars will be broadcast on CUNY-TV.. Presented in cooperation with CUNY TV. Six Thursdays, October 7, Oct. 21, Nov. 4, Dec. 2, Dec. 9, and Jan. 13. To be admitted, you must arrive by 11:45am $60 series; $10 for each program

Music and Media Series:

Brian Eno and Todd Haynes (discussion)---7:00 p.m.

Installation artist, producer, and rock and electronic musician Brian Eno has worked with many aspects of media throughout his career. After his early days as an art student, member of the band Roxy Music, and collaborator with musicians such as Robert Fripp and David Byrne, he gravitated towards "new music," a genre indebted to jazz, improvisation, world music, and pop. According to Eno the palette of color can be treated as the palette of sound. Respondent Todd Haynes began making critically acclaimed independent films in the 1980s and has written and directed feature films that include Safe (1995), Velvet Goldmine (1998), and Far from Heaven (2002). $15; $10 for MOMA members, $8 for students with current ID

Alice Kessler-Harris is a leading labor historian and advocate for women's rights. Her newest book, In Pursuit of Equity: How Gender Shaped American Economic Citizenship, has won several prizes, including the Joan Kelly, Phillip Taft, and Bancroft Prizes. It explores twentieth-century U.S. social policies such as old age and unemployment insurance, and equal employment opportunity legislation. She is currently the R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History at Columbia University. Presented in cooperation with The Center for the Humanities. Free

Paul and Anne Ehrlich's books have influenced a generation of readers and attracted widespread acclaim and controversy. Their latest collaboration promises to excite their fans, incense their critics, and help set the nation's agenda in the upcoming election season and in subsequent years. With unflinching clarity and directness, the new book tackles the issues of overpopulation, overconsumption, and political and economic inequity that are central to today's politics and to shaping the future of humankind. One with Nineveh is a wide-ranging and thought-provoking account of the major issues of our time, and what we can do about them. Join Paul Ehrlich for a discussion of this fascinating subject. $15; $5 students

Saturday, October 9

Monologue Slam (performance)---8:00 p.m. The Manhattan Monologue Slam will come to The Graduate Center for one night only. Among many great actors, the show will feature Jay O. Sanders, star of television and film (Roseanne, The Day After Tomorrow). New York City's only theatre slam is hosted by the Galinsky Brothers, and the first set features 10 exciting actors performing one short monologue each. What's at stake? The title of "The Manhattan Monologue Slam Champion," the challenge of defending the title in the next month's show, and a one-on-one consultation with a NYC casting agent. The second set is an "Audience Slam" where the audience members are encouraged to perform a one-minute monologue. All are welcome. $10

The Public Square Series Changing Times: The Purpose of Government Jeff Madrick (discussion)---6:30 p.m.

Change is at the heart of successful government, but neither the right nor the left in America adequately recognizes this truth. Both sides call on outdated views of what government should do to solve contemporary problems like income inequality, faltering healthcare, and child poverty. In this series-opening talk, New York Times columnist Jeff Madrick will show how radically the nation has changed in the past 25 years, and how little the agendas of both the right and the left, so mired in misleading nostalgia, reflect our new reality. Finally, Mr. Madrick will propose a policy agenda suitable for these times. Series lectures will be published by Princeton University Press. Free

Palestinian-American writing, like Palestinian literature more generally, frequently grapples with issues of exile and return. But for Palestinian-American women, the notion of "exile" is a multifaceted one. This talk will examine constructions of home and exile in the work of writers such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Suheir Hammad, and Nathalie Handal, focusing on the writers' relationship to Palestinian identity and history, their portrayals of ethnic and gendered realities, and their visions of both exile and homecoming. Presented in cooperation with the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, The Graduate Center, CUNY. Free

Saturday, October 16

Great Music for a Great City

Composers Who Made Us Famous (concert)---8:00 p.m.

Featuring performances of works composed by George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, and Leonard Bernstein. free; $10 donation or more guarantees seat

Sunday, October 17

Family History Fair (festival)---12:00 p.m.

At the 16th annual Family History Fair, learn helpful methods for exploring family history, including computer resources, ship passenger lists, photographs, family artifacts, census records, and cemetery research. Workshops will also discuss ethnic resources, preservation of family photos and documents, and the organization of ancestral research. Free one-on-one assistance from professional genealogists will be available at the event. Dozens of exhibitors, including the NY Genealogical and Biographical Society, Jewish Genealogical Society, Association of Professional Genealogists, Afro-American genealogical organizations, German Genealogy Group, and Irish Family History Forum, plus vendors of books, maps, computer software, preservation supplies, and research and interviewing services. Presented in cooperation with the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York during New York Archives Week and Family History Month. Free.

The Humboldt Festival:

The American Premiere of Mendelssohn's Wilkommen! (concert)---3:00 p.m

A program of music from Humboldt's many worlds, performed by students of the Graduate Center's Doctor of Musical Arts Program and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, under the direction of James John.. The highlight of the program will be the first public performance in America of Wilkommen!, a cantata for male soloists and chorus with chamber orchestra, commissioned by Humboldt from the 19-year-old Felix Mendelssohn, with a text by Ludwig Rellstab. The cantata was first performed on the occasion of a historic meeting of scientists, organized by Humboldt. Pre-registration required. Free

Monday, October 18

Possible Worlds: Mathematics and Playwriting

A Conversation between John Mighton & Brian Greene (discussion)---7:00 p.m. Join two scintillating and creative mathematical minds in conversation about their mathematical theories, challenges, and imagination in a meeting of their possible worlds. John Mighton: mathematician, playwright, author; Brian Greene: physicist, mathematician, leading string theorist. $10; Free to CUNY

Tuesday, October 19

The Bronx (discussion, book signing)---6:30 p.m. Home to the New York Yankees, the Bronx Zoo, and the Grand Concourse, the Bronx was at one time a haven for upwardly mobile second-generation immigrants. During the 1960s and 1970s, however, the Bronx became a national symbol of urban deterioration. In her new book, historian Evelyn Gonzalez describes how the once-infamous New York City borough underwent one of the most successful and inspiring community revivals in American history. Join the author for a discussion of her new book, followed by a book-signing. Free

Art History and the Digital Age

Fair or Fare: Digital Imagery and the Law (lecture)---6:30 p.m. Virginia Rutledge is an art historian and attorney with a particular interest in intellectual property law and the visual arts. In her presentation, she will survey various issues relevant to the legal status of images, focusing on digital imagery and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Presented in cooperation with the Ph.D. Program in Art History, The Graduate Center, CUNY. Free

Wednesday, October 20

They Looked Away A Documentary Narrated by Mike Wallace and Directed by Stuart Erdheim (film)---6:15 p.m.

This documentary probes the question of how much the Allies knew about the Holocaust, revealing for the first time previously classified government documents, rare archival footage, and eyewitness interviews with military veterans, camp survivors, and historians. Presented by the Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies. Free

1912, Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft & Debs

The Election That Changed the Country (lecture)---6:30 p.m. The Republicans' bitter nominating convention, which forever split the party; Wilson's "accidental election" by less than a majority of the popular vote-author James Chace recounts all the excitement and pathos of a singular moment in American history: the presidential election of 1912. Join Professor Chace as he discusses that extraordinary time and the four extraordinary men who sought the presidency: Theodore Roosevelt, the charismatic and still wildly popular former president; his handpicked successor and close friend, William Howard Taft; Woodrow Wilson, the former president of Princeton University; and labor leader Eugene V. Debs. $10; $5 N-YHS/seniors/teachers/students

Thursday, October 21

New York: A City in Transition Series:

Economics (lecture)---6:30 p.m. New York Times Metro Reporter, David Gonzalez will address change in four distinct areas of city life: demographics, economics, arts, and religion. He will be joined by a guest speaker at each event, and a Q&A with the audience will follow each discussion. Join us for a fascinating series of lectures.Four Thursdays, September 23, Oct. 21, Nov. 18 & Dec. 16 6:30pm $35 series; $10 each; Free to students

Media in the Digital Age Lecture Series

Mark Poster (lecture)---7:00 p.m.

First in a new series of lectures by distinguished speakers on the social, cultural, and political implications of new media. The Internet is not the only new medium for obtaining information and engaging in conversation. Cellular technologies promise to transform our use of telephones; the computer has made every user into a producer of knowledge and information and is rapidly eliminating or restricting hundreds of work functions once reserved for specialists. Conferencing is making air travel much less routine. Moreover, digital technologies are transforming our aesthetic sense in music and the visual arts, and may one day challenge the book as a source of literature. Presented in cooperation with The Project for New Media Studies and the Center for the Study of Culture, Technology and Work, The Graduate Center. Mark Poster, professor, University of California, Irvine and author of The Second Media Age, The Information Subject, and What's the Matter with the Internet? $10

Saturday, October 23

A Celebration of Films from the African Diaspora in the Caribbean

(film screenings, discussions)---10:00 a.m.

While the films of African-American directors such as Spike Lee, Julie Dash, and Bill Duke have enjoyed critical and popular success, the works of filmmakers from other (non-English-speaking) regions of the African New World remain largely unknown to American audiences. This event will present a selection of the cinemas of the Black Atlantic: films about the culture, history, and experiences of peoples of African descent in the Dutch, French, and Spanish-speaking islands of the Caribbean. Each film will be introduced by a scholar or filmmaker and followed by a discussion. Free

Ava and Gabriel---10:00 a.m.

Afro-Cuban Culture in the New World---1:30p.m.

The Middle Passage---4:00 p.m.

Urban Education Community Dialogues (discussion)---6:30 p.m.

Continuing conversations on the victories and struggles of urban communities and schools. Focused on both community/parent organizing and the small schools movement, these dialogues are open to teachers, parents, students, community residents, organizers, and all others concerned about the present and future state of public education. Jean Anyon, Urban Education; Stanley Aronowitz, Sociology; Michelle Fine, Psychology, The Graduate Center. Also Dec. 6, 6:30-8:30pm Free

Tuesday, October 26

Final Count: Hip Hop, Prison & the New Democracy (panel)---7:00 p.m.

As corporate interests and grassroots activists fight to define the power of hip hop activism, join a panel of scholars, artists, and activists to talk about the real under-stories of electoral disenfranchisement. Piper Anderson, performer; prison reform activist; Yvonne Bynoe, author, Leith Mullings (Moderator), Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, The Graduate Center. Presented in cooperation with the Center for the Humanities, The Graduate Center. Free

Wednesday, October 27

Les Nuits de la Colere (Nights of Fury)

A Staged Reading of a WWII Play (play reading)---7:00 p.m. In Nazi-controlled Chartres in April, 1944, a resistance fighter who has blown up a train is killed by the Gestapo, and the friend who betrayed him to a collaborator is executed by other resistance members. Nights of Fury travels back in time to uncover the secrets of the betrayal and to examine the ethics of anti-Nazi sabotage and pro-status-quo collaboration. Written by Armand Salacrou-one of the most original voices of his generation and the equal of Sartre and Anouilh-Nights of Fury premiered in 1946. The Horizon Theatre Rep uses the most pressing contemporary issues of our day as criteria for choosing plays. Free; $10 suggested donation guarantees a seat

The Burning Season The Murder of Chico Mendes

& the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest (discussion)---6:30 p.m.

On December 22, 1988. A labor and environmental activist, Mendes was gunned down by powerful ranchers for organizing resistance to the wholesale burning of the forest. Chico Mendes had invented a kind of reverse globalization, creating alliances between his grassroots campaign and the global environmental movement. Some 500 similar killings had gone unprosecuted, but under international pressure, for the first time Brazilian officials were forced to seek, capture, and try not only an Amazon gunman but the person who ordered the killing. In this reissue of the environmental classic The Burning Season, with a new introduction by the author, Andrew Revkin artfully interweaves the moving story of Mendes' struggle with the broader natural and human history of the world's largest tropical rain forest. Join author Andy Revkin for a discussion of this important book. Andy Revkin, science reporter, The New York Times; has written about the global environment for two decades, covering issues from the Amazon to the North Pole; recipient of more than half a dozen national journalism prizes. $10; Free to students

The Public Critic: Reflections on AJ Liebling (discussion)---7:00 p.m.

On the 100th birthday of AJ Liebling, one of the first great New Yorker writers, a panel of contemporary writers will consider the boundaries between news and art, and between reporting and storytelling. Phillip Lopate, Luc Sante, and other panelists to be announced. $5

Thursday, October 28 to November 27

Bearded, Turbaned, and Wise: Heads by Tiepolo:

A Collection of Etchings from the Arthur Ross Foundation (art exhibition) Installed in the Exhibition Hallway, this show features 25 expressive portraits by the noted Venetian painter and master etcher Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804). The show will be accompanied by an illustrated brochure with an essay by guest curator Marilyn Symmes.Free